Be Still And Know

Matthew 5:7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. The simple fact is that we rely totally on the truth that God is merciful. We have sinned against him and those around us and if he were to insist on being just then we wouldn’t stand a chance. However, God is ‘rich in mercy’, to use Paul’s wonderful expression in Ephesians 2:4. God has chosen to set us free from our sin because of his love for us. That all sounds wonderful, but we need to realise that God doesn’t merely ask us to show mercy but demands that we do. Receiving his mercy and hugging it to ourselves is not an option. Since we have received mercy, we are required to be merciful to others. Showing mercy sounds easy and straightforward right up to the moment when we need to put it into practice. When people have been rude to us or gone out of their way to hurt us, we all instinctively want to hit back. We want justice because we shouldn’t be treated like this. It isn’t right. Jesus isn’t denying the reality of our suffe